Betty nguyen
December 2nd, 2009
The philosophy of “The Sirens of Titan”Although The Sirens of Titan is a non-fiction book, it points out several of philosophies about life. The Sirens of Titan follows Malachi Constant, the richest and luckiest man in the 22nd century, whose bizarre and random journeys take him from Earth to Mars to Mercury, and finally to the Saturn moon of Titan, where he learns a painful and absurd truth about the history of humanity. In the book, Kurt Vonnegut employs characters’ lives to reflect his idea about a balance of humanism and existentialism that helps people create their own meaning of life. His book is a complex system of ideas and philosophies which relates to that in some political essays such as Lao-tzu’s The Tao-te Ching, Niccolo Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of the Prince,” Jean-Jacques Rouseau’s “The Origin of Civil Society,” Thomas Jefferson’s “The Declaration of Independence,” and Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. In The Sirens of Titan, Vonnegut has some points of view about war and leadership that are similar to Lao-tzu’s philosophy in The Tao-te Ching. In the work, Rumfoord is built as a symbol of a leadership. He is considered as the “mastermind” of the Martian war and his attention is that “Mars should lose the war” (176). He questions the reasons why the Martian soldiers should be beaten. Vonnegut’s philosophy explains “ Any man who would change the world in a significant way must have showmanship, a genial willingness to shed other people’s blood, and a plausible new religion to introduce during the brief period of repentance and horror that usually follows bloodshed” (176). This philosophy is the similar to Lao-tzu’s. According to Lao-tzu, people must possess a morality even when they are in fight. He states, “ [people] [enter] a battle gravely, with sorrow and with great compassion, as if [they] [are] attending a funeral” (27). However, the Martian army is a group of unconscious and heartless soldiers....

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...The Sirens of Titans
The Sirens of Titans was written by Kurt Vonnegut then published by 1959. It starts out as a search for the meaning of life, but it turns out to be something entirely different. A fictitious meaning of life is found because what was found showed how ridiculous some things are in life. Vonnegut wanted people to take a step back, examine their lives and laugh at how ridiculous the things people took seriously even though they were miniscule in the grand scheme that was their lives. Vonnegut wanted to show people that life is not all that serious which happens to also be the theme expressed in The Sirens of Titans.
According to the book, the purpose of every human in history is to deliver a replacement part to an alien from Tralfamador. The tralfamadorian alien was then to deliver a message that simply says “greetings” to another planet all while stuck on Titan – one of Saturn’s many moons. This purpose shows how insignificant Earth is to the universe. If Earth is so insignificant, how significant are the earthlings? This rationalization shows that everything a person deems significant is, as a matter of fact, not significant at all. If nothing is actually significant, why should anyone take anything seriously?
This lack of significance can be applied to The Sirens of Titans take on religion. In The Sirens of...

...﻿PHILOSOPHYPhilosophy is divided into many sub-fields. These include epistemology, logic, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics.
Epistemology is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, such as the relationships between truth, belief, and theories of justification.
Logic is the study of the principles of correct reasoning.
Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, such as existence, time, the relationship between mind and body, objects and their properties, wholes and their parts, events, processes, and causation.
Ethics, or "moral philosophy," is concerned primarily with the question of the best way to live, and secondarily, concerning the question of whether this question can be answered.
Aesthetics deals with beauty, art, enjoyment, sensory-emotional values, perception, and matters of taste and sentiment.
Definition:
-- The term philosophy itself comes from the Greek philosophia, which means love of wisdom.
--The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence.
--The critical study of the basic principles and concepts of a particular branch of knowledge.
Meaning:
--The rational investigation of the truths and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods.
Significance:
For us to avoid being fooled by those learned person, it removes or takes away doubts, it turns life to be simple and flexible...

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Raphael Lemkin and Eleanor Roosevelt are two very essential people in our history. Lemkin grew up in a Jewish family and was one of three children born to Joseph and Bella Lemkin. His father was a farmer and his mother a highly intellectual woman who was a painter, linguist, and philosophy student with a large collection of books on literature and history. With his mother as an influence, Lemkin mastered ten languages by the age of 14, including French, Spanish, Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian. His mother being why he becomes a great asset to our history because he created the word “genocide” as well as the first Human Rights Treaty. Eleanor Roosevelt created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that became the most important document of all other policies and treaties. She was the wife of former United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt By August of 1945, Lemkin and Roosevelt have both witnessed two world wars. They both laid the groundwork for the now United Nations.
Raphael Lemkin directed his interest in genocide after the Armenian Genocide in Turkey during World War I and after seeing it happen so many times around the world. After his interest increased, Lemkin’s life changed and he petitioned for an intercontinental law that he hoped it to prevent any type of genocide or mass murder against humanity. In the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide recognized by Lemkin 19 articles, clarify the guidelines as to...

...﻿Philosophy of Education Making changes beliefs When I started the class of philosophy ofeducation, I didn’t know what important it is to know about it. This importance for me is more for others because there are people that strongly believe in the impact that philosophy of educationhas in society...
Kara Bullock Philosophy of Education Philosophy of education refers to, “… [the] philosophical study of education, and its problems…its central subject matter is education, and its methods are those of philosophy”, (Noddings, 1995, pg 1). A philosophy of education is the philosophy of the process...
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Philosophy of Education Making changes beliefs When I started the class of philosophy ofeducation, I didn’t know what important it is to know about it. This importance for me is more for others because there are people that strongly believe in the impact that philosophy of educationhas in society...
Kara Bullock Philosophy of Education Philosophy of education refers to, “… [the] philosophical study of education, and its problems…its central subject matter is education, and its methods are those of philosophy”, (Noddings, 1995, pg 1). A philosophy of education is the philosophy of the process...
Premium | 2297 Words | 7 Pages ...

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Philosophy
PHL/215
November 03, 2014
PhilosophyPhilosophy is “the study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of life, etc…; a particular set of ideas about knowledge, truth, and meaning of life; and a set of ideas about how to do something or how to live” (Philosophy, 2014, para. 1). Philosophy plays a huge role in all of our lives. Studding of philosophy influences our lives in many ways and has many purposes. Philosophy has five major branches metaphysis, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, and logic. Each of these branches plays a role with culture to develop thoughts in human beings by wondering, a dynamic process, the truth, and wisdom.
“Philosophy is an attempt to reason clearly and critically about all areas of experience: science, religion, art, politics, and mortality” (What is Philosophy, Para, 1). The purpose of philosophy is to try to understand and evaluate our most basics, beliefs, values, and to integrate them into a coherent view of each of us and the world around us (What is Philosophy, 2014).
Studying philosophy is important because it continues to play an important role in shaping the future of all human existence, Philosophy enhances personal growth, professional opportunities, improves reading skill, critical thinking, communication, and helps in...

...In his science fiction novel The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut attempts to answer the meaning of life and ultimately comes with the answer that in order "to realize that a purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved." (220). However, giving such a straightforward and blunt answer obviously hints that Vonnegut's sarcasm to such a simple solution. Throughout the novel, Vonnegut ridicules religion and science simultaneously in order to come to the ultimate "answer" to the mankind's purpose of life.
The Sirens of Titan gives a great sense of direction and compactness. It is astounding in that the novel with its science fiction nature creates human warmth. Three reasons for this phenomenon present themselves. Vonnegut's skill has been developing in 7 years and the science fiction disposition offers the reader more impassiveness. Also he is more informative in this particular work. Like many other Vonnegut's books, The Sirens of Titan was influenced by Vonnegut's experiences from World War II. Although the war is not the novel's major target, it has a significant affect on it. Winston Niles Rumfoord's believes that "'everything that ever has been always will be, and everything that ever will be always has been" (20). In order to escape Dresden with a newer vision, Vonnegut cleverly attempts to rid himself of his youthful...

...﻿Philosophy
1. What do you think philosophy is?
I understand philosophy as something which answers questions to humans who seek for wisdom. When you study Philosophy, the negative thing about this is that you don’t get to know all the answers as you go through the process of learning because philosophy talks about life and life unfortunately has handed us a numerous unanswerable questions.Philosophy has also had the negative sense of a subject full of idle speculation, useless to the practical business of finding things out and consisting mostly in irrelevant theorizing. I suppose Philosophy is trying to answer mysteries about life. However, these mysteries are beyond what human mind can perceive. Philosophy makes people think excessively before acting on it. It simply acquaints us with the fact that Philosophy is ‘love for wisdom’.
2. What is your philosophy in life?
“Never settle for anything less”
I suppose that there will always be something ahead of where you are now. And if that something has the ability to be ahead of you, why can’t you be as well? The only thing that limits us from doing something better from what we’re doing now is none other than ourselves. I can’t afford to be in a “less” situation when I know I have all the guts to be “more”. The point here is not to overpower someone or to be ahead of...

...﻿What is authentic happiness and how does one obtain it?
Happiness is a term specifically defined and scrutinized by various philosophers that is used with deviating implications that consists of different meanings. Each philosopher has an unambiguous idea of how happiness must and will be obtained. The philosophical definitions of happiness are aberrant in contrast with the current conception of happiness.
Some believe in Aristotle’s theory that happiness is a complete, ultimate, or sufficient good that satisfies all of one’s desires. Aristotle believes that some goods are not only a strong factor to obtaining happiness but are necessary elements to lead to one being happy. He also believes that some desirable goods can determine a “good life” style. I agree that everyone has an ultimate goal in life. However, I firmly disagree with Aristotle’s reasoning because I do not believe a specific good or circumstance can make one happy. I believe happiness is found through God whether one is referring to happiness as an emotion, well-being, success or eudemonia.
Others agree with Thomas Aquinas who defines happiness as the ultimate end for rational beings and requires possession of the virtues. Aquinas believes that happiness can only be found in God and by seeing God. He thinks it is near impossible for one to be happy in this life because of the destruction this world posses. I agree that happiness indeed comes from God, but I disagree that one cannot be happy here on...